Are UV Nail Dryers Dangerous

We know that UVA light is a major risk factor for all types of skin cancers. And it doesn’t matter if that UVA light is natural UVA from the sun or unnatural UVA from sources like tanning salon bulbs, and reports in the past year have just reconfirmed that those tanning salon bulbs are what’s responsible for what’s really an epidemic of skin cancers in teenagers and people in their twenties. Now there’s a report from the Archives of Dermatology which report an association between UV nail dryers and an increased incidence of skin cancers on the fingers of women who regularly use those nail dryers and had no other risk factors for skin cancer. So I think we better take a look at those nail dryers. They’ve been around for twenty years but they’ve become increasingly popular in the past few years because of UV gel nails and UV gel nails are so popular because they look very natural, they have a very high luster and there’s no odor from the process. UV nail dryers are also used to cure acrylic nails and just to dry regular nail polish, pedicure nail polish and interestingly, also to help cure UV top coats which help protects nails when people are getting tanning salon treatments. Now it turns out that the bulbs in these UV nail dryers give exactly the same type of UVA that you get from tanning salon bulbs and in fact the dose per square inch, when you adjust it for the size of your fingers rather than your whole body, is the same dose that you get from tanning salon bulbs. So the reality is, instead of waiting for more and more reports that are going to reconfirm that these UV nail dryers are probably responsible for what will become an epidemic of skin cancers on the fingers, at this time just say NO when it comes to UV nail dryers. And if you can’t say no, then at least make sure that you’re using a chem-free sunscreen, which work immediately, on all of the skin of your fingers around the nails, before you put your hands into UV nail dryers.

We know that the ultraviolet lights used in tanning salons have been linked to skin cancer, but what about the ultraviolet lights used in UV nail dryers? In this episode of DermTV, Dr. Schultz discusses a recent research report on the safety of ultraviolet nail dryers.